Part 2 --> Baños
We woke up bright and early to have breakfast with our group at 7:30 before they departed for Quito and we stayed at the lodge waiting for our driver. Rather than going back to Quito, my dad had heard about this beautiful scenic town called Baños. After a 3 hour bumpy journey, we made it and WOW it was breathtaking! We were surrounded by lush forest dotted with the occasional shop. Our first stop was the treehouse. Each ticket was $1! Yes, that’s right, $1. I wasn’t kidding when I said Ecuador was cheap and so well worth every penny spent. Once we paid, we met 3 other travelers from the United States who had been exploring Baños for the past few days. The 2 women were social workers and had met the guy here in Baños. They were so sweet and gave us suggestions of what to do in Baños, like visiting the hot springs. Once we got inside, we were welcomed by a beautiful view with multiple swings set up to swing over “the edge of the world”. It was PURE MAGIC! We took a few photos and videos as we explored some of the swings and the tree house. On one swing, one of the employees was happy to push me and WOW I went high. There was even a "do it yourself" zip line swing which was a ton of fun. Such an amazing experience for $3 total!
After the swings, we went to see a beautiful waterfall. This wasn’t just any waterfall, though. We were actually able to be less than a foot away from it. It was so powerful that it looked like white fog was evaporating from it!
Baños is clearly known for its incredible beauty, but it's also known for it’s adventure opportunities. I convinced my dad to go zip-lining with me and we had a blast. We’ve gone zip-lining before but this time we started on our stomachs and were able to document the experience on rented go pros!
Finally, we checked into the hotel for the night, which looked like a cute little cottage and had the friendliest people, especially this one lady who answered all of our questions. I went to go fill up my water bottle and ended up talking to her about how to she came to Baños for 20 minutes in the process. That night, my dad and I decided to take the advice of those 2 women we met at the swings and head to the closest hot spring. Our driver told us that in order to get the medicinal benefits you should go in the hot spring first and then jump directly into the freezing cold one, so that’s what we did! It was definitely shocking but it felt SO good afterwards! Not to mention, there was a beautiful colorful waterfall in the background of the the springs.
It was THE BEST day and my favorite town for sure :)